The 18-month-old girl was too thin. She had a cough, and there was something wrong with her throat.

A community health worker encouraged Marie’s parents to take the baby girl to the health center in their region of Mali.

“I am concerned about what to do in the future, and concerned about the future of Marie,” says Hawa, Marie’s mother. “I think about Marie’s food and her health.”

A dire diagnosis

At the clinic, the circumference of Marie’s arm was measured — a common way to identify malnutrition — and the little girl was diagnosed with the worst form of it.

She was immediately placed in a World Vision-funded outpatient therapy program, given medication, and administered a highly-nutritious supplement called Plumpy’nut™ to nurse her back to health.

Marie’s mother explains that this year’s drought across parts of West Africa led to her daughters’ condition.

“When we have a good harvest, we eat three times a day,” Hawa says. “Before last year’s harvest, we had more than 20 goats, but now, only five goats are left.”

Consequences of a poor harvest

In other years, Marie’s family has typically gotten a harvest that fills up 60 to 80 donkey carts. They grow maize, sorghum, and peanuts, and the harvest is enough to feed the family and their animals.

But last year was different. The severe drought left the family with only one donkey cart full of millet and about half a donkey cart of sorghum. The peanut and rice crops were a total failure.

For Marie and her family to survive, her parents had to sell their animals and buy food. The adults are eating only once a day now, and the children eat twice a day. Both are eating smaller amounts.

“The maize we buy in the market is not very nutritious because we get hungry [again] very quickly,” Hawa says, “but we have no choice and the price is very expensive now.”

A system for battling malnutrition

Dr. Kene Mark Guindo, a World Vision nutrition project manager, says health centers in this region are now better equipped to detect early cases of malnutrition. Previously, parents would have to wait until the child was extremely malnourished with complications and then visit the clinic.

Now, Guindo says, World Vision has trained health volunteers in villages to do proactive malnutrition screening once a month, which involves measuring the bicep to determine the health status of the child according to a color-coded diagram. Malnourished children are referred to the community health center.

A health volunteer covers 35 to 50 households in a village. The health worker also has a mobile pharmacy to treat common sicknesses like malaria, diarrhea, and fever.

Recovery — but risk remains

Marie’s life was saved when she started the outpatient therapy program and began eating Plumpy’nut every day, and she has gained weight.

“I am glad Marie can come to the outpatient therapy program, because she is sick,” Hawa says.

To help address the crisis, World Vision plans to serve 10,364 acutely malnourished children up to age 6 in the area of Mali where Marie lives. Children in this age group are most vulnerable to malnutrition — and those who lack vital nutrition can be subject to permanent physical and mental stunting.

“I believe that during this difficult time that [Mali] is passing through, this program will certainly save children’s lives,” says San-San Dimache, World Vision’s nutrition advisor for West Africa.

October 16 was World Food Day. As we reflect on the importance of providing all people with access to basic nutrition, World Vision is focused not just on emergency aid — as we’re conducting right now in drought-stricken West Africa — but on long-term, sustainable solutions for food security and independence. We invite our supporters to join us in the goal of a hunger-free world.